Tokyo shares climbed on Thursday in thin Asian trading, boosted by expectations the Federal Reserve may wait to hike rates. Many regional markets, including Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, were shut to mark the Lunar New Year.
The Nikkei 225 gained 0.49%.
Federal Reserve policymakers expressed concern last month that
raising interest rates too soon could pour cold water on the U.S.
economic recovery, and fretted over the impact of dropping "patient"
from the central bank's rate guidance.
The minutes from the Fed's Jan. 27-28 policy-setting meeting,
released on Wednesday, show officials grappling to square solid U.S.
economic growth with the weakness in international markets as well as
worrying about falling inflation expectations in the United States, said Reuters.
Japan's January trade deficit came in at ¥1.178 trillion, more than the ¥1.691 expected.
However, exports rose 17%, well above the 11.9% seen as as the U.S. economic recovery supported demand for automobiles while Asian economies continued to import semiconductors and plastics from Japan. Imports fell 9.0%, more than the 4.8% drop expected on weak oil prices.
On Wednesday U.S. stocks were mixed after the close, as gains in the Utilities, Industrials and Consumer Goods sectors led shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Telecommunications and Financials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.10%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.03%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.14%.
